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I've been trying to come up with a practical way to mount my coil. The 32 Dodge Brothers DL originally had one of those integrated coils where the ignition switch is built into the rear of the coil and the whole unit rests behind the dash as a single unit. Some of these type of coils were mounted on three prongs that accepted bolts on the back of the dash. My setup used a tubular mount that the coil and switch were clamped to.

It worked like this -

There is a company that still makes this type of coil, but they want almost three hundred bucks for the unit. My original coil was long gone, replaced by an aftermarket ignition switch and a separate, standard coil. I wanted to come up with something that would allow me to mount a coil under the dash, but still retain the ignition switch - since the key matches the key to my sidemount locks. When I bought the car in 1965, it was set up like the graphic below. Unfortunately, the ignition switch extends too far into the clamp to allow me to clamp an aftermarket coil inside behind it.

So I came up with this solution -

This way I can replace the coil without spending three hundred hard earned dollars. It also keeps the coil up under the dash almost in the original position. Now I have to figure out how to make the tube. The inside diameter of the coil holder is about 2.5 inches. The coil's diemeter is 2.25 inches. I probably don't even need a stepped tube, just one that is 2.25 ID and 2.5 OD. And checking, I found steel tubing with those exact dimensions. An eight inch piece is under ten bucks. My only concern is the combined weight of the coil and the tubing. I do want to keep the coil off the firewall for an original look. Any other ideas that might work?

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Are you concerned about the weight on the dash? Maybe a piece of flat stock just larger than the switch opening would strengthen the dash metal. Otherwise the fix you mention and post sure looks like it would work well.

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Tubes are inherently strong. The polycarbonate is rigid and hard (R73-78) so should fit that side of the requirement. It also resists impact and repeated use so should have a good fatigue life as the coil shakes up and down inside it due to road vibrations. My immediate thought before reading the post on polycarbonate was aluminium tube.

I also ask about the strength of the dash and mounting to it. But with the lightweight polyc. and mounting the coil as close as possible to the dash, you should be OK. I think you have a shiny instrument panel covering the dash, so that should hide any flex in the dash. Also, is the new coil lighter than the original?

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Similar thinking to what I employed for my DA. I used steel tubing which really did not weigh much. Keep it as short as possible to minimise "leverage". I found the original coil was pretty heavy compared to the modern one, so I recon it should not be a problem.

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Since I’ve never seen the original coil, I can’t comment on it’s weight, but Bullfrog’s comments are reassuring. The ignition switch is off to the side of the dash, not covered by the instrument panel insert. Thanks for the comments, I’ll let you all know it works out.

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Ingenious method of attaching modern coil. Think back to your '29 Plymouth. I mounted my back up on the angle iron supporting the cowl, from passenger door frame to firewall. Good and secure and out of the way.

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My only concern with poly would be coil, over heating . Do they produce heat ? Metal would act as a sink . Muffler pipe would be ticket . Check out tractor Supply they or Advance Auto lots adapter available .

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Ingenious method of attaching modern coil. Think back to your '29 Plymouth. I mounted my back up on the angle iron supporting the cowl, from passenger door frame to firewall. Good and secure and out of the way.

It would be great, but my 32 doesn’t have the brace.

8 hours ago, ArticiferTom said:

My only concern with poly would be coil, over heating . Do they produce heat ? Metal would act as a sink . Muffler pipe would be ticket . Check out tractor Supply they or Advance Auto lots adapter available .

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Doing a few small jobs today. I cleaned off the speedometer cable (it's a long one!) and was pleasantly surprised to find everything intact, still very flexible, and with both ends and fittings in good shape. The cable pulls out of the housing easily. and I plan to clean it and re-lube the housing. Any suggestions on the best way to do this?

The housing was caked with 80 years of dirt and oil, but it cleaned up nicely.

Ends and fittings all good.

Then I fabricated a new carb linkage, as my new BB-1 updraft is different than my old carb setup.

Next, I went through my list in preparation of starting the engine for the first time.

Gapped plugs to .028.

Made sure the crankcase is full of new oil with a bottle of zinc additive for startup.

Radiator full - no leaks from hoses or radiator a week after filling.

Points gap set.

Plug wires checked for position on distributor cap and plugs.

Valve covers tightened, new cork gaskets.

New coil (hopefully good) with positive wire to distributor and negative wire to negative terminal of battery (positive ground system).

Temporary oil pressure gauge and temperature gauge installed.

Remote gravity fed fuel tank filled with non-ethanol gas.

Fire extinguisher.

Fresh six volt battery with correct, large gauge wires.

The only thing I haven't done yet is to adjust the BB-1 updraft carb. I'm searching for the correct information on initial setup after a rebuild. As usual, I have it somewhere, but can't find it at the moment.

I just noticed in my linkage photo that i don't have the bolt in the exhaust pipe clamp. That needs to be done.

Anything I may have forgotten?

I promised my youngest granddaughter that she could be there for the first startup. At 13, she is exhibiting a real interest in cars. Since she lives just down the street, this won't be a problem. I'll take video of the first attempt. hopefully it will be uneventful.

I know I've been promising to start Daphne for the last year, but it's actually going to happen - I hope.

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Well, I finally got Daphne started. No real problems, she cranked for awhile but then took off. There was some obnoxious noise from the fan or waterpump area that I think was a loose fan belt - you can see my worried and annoyed look on the video. The first few tries nothing happened, and I thought she might not be getting a spark. I loosened one of the plug leads and held it close and got a spark. Then the motor wanted to start. I snapped the plug wire back on and she started right up. Not sure why that seemed to be the "spark" that got her going. On a later try, I had to do the same thing. My coil wires are all rather long at the moment, so maybe she isn't getting enough juice at startup. There might be some lifter noise, see what you think. The carb seemed to work fine and I got 50 pounds of oil pressure. No leaks so far. I am pretty happy with this, as I didn't have to adjust the distributor at all and actually had all the plug wires in the correct sequence.. Lots of smoke as I had Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinders. I noticed a bit of bubbling around the top of the manifold, but a quick tightening of the manifold bolts got rid of that. The second shot has her running pretty well. Still not sure if I'm getting too much lifter noise or if that's normal. This really took a lot of stress off the restoration. A little work with the motor and I can put the hood on and start working on the interior.